Voters pledge allegiance to Assad in blood
Print Edition
WAVING photographs of President Bashar Assad and dancing with flags, tens of thousands of Syrians pledged renewed allegiance to Assad as they voted yesterday in a presidential election.
Some stamped their ballots with blood after pricking their fingers with pins supplied by the government in a symbolic act of allegiance and patriotism. Others chose to vote in full sight of other voters and television cameras — rather than go behind a partition curtain for privacy.
Some voters wore lapel pins with Assad’s picture and said re-electing him would give the Syrian leader more legitimacy to find a solution to the three-year conflict that activists say has killed more than 160,000 people, a third of whom were civilians.
Security was tight, with multiple rings of checkpoints set up around the Syrian capital Damascus and its entrances. Troops searched cars and asked people for their IDs.
The ballot is only taking place in government-controlled areas, excluding much of northern and eastern Syria. Tens of thousands of Syrians abroad voted last week, although many of 2.7 million Syrian refugees across the region either abstained or were excluded by voting laws.
Assad’s win would give him a third seven-year term in office, tighten his hold on power and likely further strengthen his determination to crush the insurgency against his rule.
The vote is also Syria’s first multi-candidate presidential election in more than 40 years. Assad faces two challengers in the race, Maher Hajjar and Hassan al-Nouri, both of whom were little known in Syria before declaring their candidacy for the country’s top post in April.
In government strongholds of Damascus and Latakia, the voting took on a carnival-like atmosphere, with voters singing and dancing, while declaring undying loyalty to Assad.
In Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, the atmosphere was more restrained, with people standing in long lines to vote. Even the destroyed Old City, recently evacuated by hundreds of rebel fighters after a cease-fire agreement, had a few polling stations.
Political solution
Assad cast his ballot in the morning at a school in his upmarket Damascus neighborhood of al-Malki, flanked by his wife Asma.
In his first public appearance since undergoing heart surgery in March, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem voted with a Syrian flag wrapped like a shawl around his neck.
“The path toward a political solution to the crisis begins today,” he declared.
At a polling station in the Dama Rose hotel in central Damascus, a cup filled with pins was on offer for those who chose to vote in blood.
“With the leadership of Bashar, my country will return to safety,” said student Uday Jurusni, who voted in blood. “He is my leader and I love him.”
The Interior Ministry said there were 15.8 million eligible voters.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
